Reply To: “Cancel culture” as a weapon of war

jackk,

“I also disagree with your definition of cancel culture.
Sanctions on enemy countries has been a long standing policy in Foreign Affairs. There are many countries that it is illegal to do business with. (Iran, the Taliban , NK for example.)”

Correct, and I even wrote “propaganda, sanctions, and boycotts have always been a part of warfare” in my post you are responding to. The difference here, however, is that much of this economic warfare has been waged by private companies and citizens who were not under legal obligation to stop doing business with Russia. They were doing it themselves in response to media reports and social media backlash.

“It is not due to any pressure, media or cancel culture. It is due to a fellowship of humanity.”

I think you want to deny the existence of this weapon because you support what it’s doing right now. Yale University publishes a spreadsheet of companies that continue to do any business with Russia, maintained by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his research team. On the Yale Web page, we see this blurb:

“Nevertheless, some western companies have continued to operate in Russia undeterred; we identify several dozen companies with particularly significant exposure to Russian markets. In the days since we initially published our list, many of the “remain” companies have responded to public backlash and decided to withdraw, and we are continuously revising our list to reflect these decisions as they are made.”

In a Washington Post article covering this spreadsheet, Sonnenfeld reports receiving calls from CEOs asking him what they need to do to get on the “right” list. So we have a Yale professor publishing a list of entities directing where an angry public can vent their social media wrath after watching media coverage of the war in Ukraine, with the openly stated purpose of coercing them to participate in economic warfare against Russia.

Make no mistake, this is 100% a weaponizing of cancel culture, unleashed with breathtaking speed, scope, and coordination. I am not trying to argue with you whether it’s the right thing to do in this particular situation or not. If Putin is a mini-Hitler as you say, then getting Russians to remove him from power themselves may be the only way to avert direct conflict between Russia and the West. I am simply pointing out the existence and power of this unconventional weapon, and expressing fear that it could be easily misused, e.g., to persecute Israel or suppress dissenting viewpoints even in vibrant democracies. It is BDS perfected.